Cape Town - Cape Town’s city centre recorded one of its safest festive seasons in recent years, with almost no major incidents reported last month. This was despite the number of complaints and operational activities involving law enforcement and the City Improvement Districts almost doubling from November to December.
During Monday’s Subcouncil 16 meeting, law enforcement reported that it investigated 1 150 complaints last month, almost twice the 631 reported the previous month. Law enforcement carried out 430 operations last month, including 256 proactive patrols.
Subcouncil chairman Demetri Qually said the festive period recorded very few serious incidents, even over New Year’s Eve when thousands of people congregated at the V&A Waterfront.
Muneeb Hendricks, manager of safety and security at the CCID, attributed this to effective planning by all law enforcement agencies, including the police and the city, well before the start of the festive season. “We can confirm that December was indeed one of the safest we have experienced in the central city. While we’re still waiting to see the official visitor figures, it also felt as if the CBD was substantially busier that it usually is during the festive season.”
Hendricks said the CCID had created specialised units to deal with the volume of visitors, set up an information kiosk pilot programme to train special “ambassadors”, and rolled out a targeted public awareness campaign declaring “Stash it, don’t flash it” to reduce theft.
“Visitors are always very welcome but we’re also heartened by the fact that we are seeing increasing numbers of Capetonians also coming to the CBD.”
But JP Smith, mayoral committee member for safety and security, said the festive season appeared to be quieter than previous years, with fewer big events. This would have contributed to the enforcement efforts in the inner city. “It is also worth noting our policing resources in the CBD are bolstered by the presence of our CCTV network and the metro police camera response unit attached to that network.” Further manpower was ensured with the “rent-a-cop” scheme, funded by the CCID, and law enforcement reservists and volunteers.
“The City of Cape Town’s safety and security directorate has worked hard to refine its festive season operational plan over the past few years, working very closely with other city departments, but also external agencies like the police and the city improvement districts. The fruits of our labour are evident, based on the statistics,” said Smith.
The subcouncil heard that more than 8 200 fines and compliance notices were issued in the city centre last month, mostly for non-moving violations such as parking on red or yellow lines. This was substantially more than in November, when 3 359 fines and compliance notices were issued and up from the just over 5 000 reported for December 2013.
The city’s law enforcement helped the SAPS and Sheriff of the Court with 16 evictions last month, and officers were involved in six events in the city centre.
Law enforcement was particularly active on the city’s beaches, with 59 notices being issued for transgressions of sea shore regulations at coastal hotspots within Subcouncil 16. Hout Bay and the Atlantic Seaboard fall within this subcouncil.
There were also 370 impoundments of liquor, mostly from beaches, as well as 49 cases where informal traders selling illegally on beaches or in the city had their goods confiscated.
In November, the city recorded 36 liquor impoundments. In 2013, 7 753 bottles of alcohol were confiscated across the city between December 1 and January 4, 2014. More than 10 200 bottles were confiscated between December 2014 and January 4 this year.
There were 22 arrests for narcotics and other offences, down from the 36 recorded in October but up slightly from the 17 logged in November.
The city’s law enforcement, while busy with complaints and various operations, also dealt with the confiscation of 35 shopping trolleys so that they could be returned to the relevant retailers. However, the city is considering introducing penalties for retailers who “don’t take responsibility” for their trolleys.
There were 127 complaints of antisocial behaviour involving homeless people, down from the 169 logged in October. But law enforcement officials reported that the city was involved in an ongoing operation to update the city’s homeless people database.
This information would help with the rehabilitation of those identified by social workers working in the city centre, said councillor Jacques Weber.
Cape Argus